


Even if You Don't, I Do

by Angel_of_Mysteries



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Galra Keith (Voltron), Gen, Gender-neutral pronouns for Pidge, He's too good and pure for this world, My beta says Hunk is the friend we all don't deserve, but you can read it like that if you want?, there's not really a relationship between Keith and Lance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-06
Updated: 2016-11-06
Packaged: 2018-08-29 12:24:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8489551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angel_of_Mysteries/pseuds/Angel_of_Mysteries
Summary: “We’re rivals, you know? Lance and Keith, neck and neck. I don’t know a whole heck of a lot about you, but I know you. You’re not a bad person, Keith. And you’re not some kind of secret spy or something.”Or, the one in which Keith becomes a Galra and proceeds to freak out about it, and Lance is kind of by his side through it all.





	

It was supposed to be an easy mission. A planet near where the Castle was floating had happened to be sending out a distress signal and, being the good people they were, they decided to help.

A few hours later found them within an inch of their lives and beating a hasty retreat. The distress signal had been a trap; the Galra had been lying in wait for them to come to the rescue, and once they had they'd immediately opened fire.

"I'm beat," Lance complained, rubbing a hand systematically over a kink in his neck. "Someone remind me why we help out every single person that cries for help again?"

"Because it is our duty," Allura said firmly, walking into the ship's bridge behind the paladins. "And while this time happened to be a fluke, we cannot automatically assume that every distress signal is. We are the universe's _only_ hope, Lance."

"Allura's right," Shiro murmured in what was probably supposed to be encouragement. Instead, he sounded just as worn out as Lance felt. "We can't-"

"I'm going to go train," Keith interrupted brusquely, standing from where he'd unceremoniously plopped down.

Lance glared at him halfheartedly. "How can you even _think_ about training after the beating we just got?"

"Easy." Keith fixed a level, hard stare on him and said nothing more, as if the silence was supposed to be the end of it.

"I'm....gonna go...see what we have in stock in the kitchen," Hunk said awkwardly, slinking sideways toward the door. "Pidge?"

"Huh?" The younger teen perked their head up almost immediately upon their name being spoken, and nodded emphatically when they caught on. "Uh- right! Kitchen! And I'm gonna check on the meal systems and see how much progress I can get done on the EFR."

"Now paladins," Coran began in his best scolding tone. "You haven't been debriefed yet, and-"

Keith broke his staring contest with Lance and promptly left, not bothering to listen to any of their leaders anymore. As if on a cue, Hunk and Pidge followed hastily.

Shiro sighed, leaning forward and burying his face in his hands. "Let them go," he murmured, and it was hard to tell if he was talking to Allura and Coran, or simply to himself at that point. He looked up wearily at the final remaining paladin, and in that moment Lance saw just how many years the war had added on to the young adult in just a few months.

"And you?" Shiro asked quietly. "What are you going to go do?"

Lance kept his reply on the tip of his tongue, out of guilt. Shiro sounded so _tired_ and _sad,_ how could he be selfish enough to just say he was going to bed?

"I can stay if you need me to," he murmured back after a moment of further hesitation.

"No, go on," Shiro insisted, attempting a bright smile. It looked overly forced, but he wasn’t about to point that out. “I think we’re about finished up here anyway, Lance.”

He hesitated for only a moment longer before nodding, murmuring a soft “alright, good night”. He bid Allura and Coran a good night as well even though there wasn’t really a concept of time in space, then headed to his room. Sleep beckoned after all, and he could probably use a pre-bed shower as well.

His mind turned to the other members of Voltron, from Hunk and Pidge’s cooldown routine that involved voluntary work, to Keith who insisted on training until he passed out, to how Shiro likely would spend the next several hours strategizing with Coran and Allura, and figuring out exactly what went wrong in their latest mission.

He snorted. Sleep sounded way better than any of that any day.

-

A few blissfully quiet weeks later, the EFR was finally completed and for the first time in who knew how long, the team was able to eat something _real,_ or at least, more real than just green goop. It had _flavor_ now, and _texture._

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Keith questioned doubtfully, poking the machine inquisitively.

“A hundred percent,” Pidge boasted proudly, pushing their glasses up their nose. “All you have to do is put your plate into it and think about what you want, focus on it, and it’ll be made!”

“So if I want pizza, all I have to do is picture it and it’ll appear?” Lance asked excitedly, pushing past Keith to stare at the EFR in awe. His mouth grew watery at just the _notion_ of being able to have a piece of pizza after so long of space goo.

“Not quite,” Hunk answered for the green paladin. He stood beside the machine with an arm resting over the top of it, looking every bit as pleased as Pidge. “The first time I tried it, it didn’t exactly work out the way I wanted it to. You have to really imagine how it tastes and feels, or else it’ll be the nightmarish return of high school cafeteria food.”

“I call dibs on first!” Lance immediately claimed, opening up the almost microwave-looking machine and setting his plate inside. He placed his hand flat on the place where buttons would have been had it been a microwave, and concentrated. Almost immediately, he could feel himself connecting with the EFR like he did with Blue, or the other team members when they meditated together.

The connection alone wouldn’t be enough though, according to Pidge and Hunk. He closed his eyes and imagined a slice of pizza to the best of his ability; the rich red sauce, puffy crust baked _just right,_ the toppings in all their glory. When the machine gave a beep at last, he opened it up to reveal what looked like a slice of supreme pizza.

“No way,” he breathed, gently taking the plate as if it would shatter. For a moment, all he could do was stare at the confection and try his hardest not to drool.

Eager to try the pseudo pizza, he hurried over to the table where Shiro was patiently waiting for his own turn to use the EFR. Allura and Coran were already digging into their own space goo, occasionally pausing to watch the paladins in interest as one by one, they got their first Earthian Food in what seemed like forever.

Slowly, Lance picked up the pizza and took a small first bite, letting out a pleased moan as seasoning and flavor burst on his tongue. The machine had _worked,_ and the pizza tasted just as he’d hoped it would. Upon seeing his satisfaction, the other paladins dug into their food.

Shiro had chosen sushi and traditionally made ramen for his meal, food he hadn’t eaten since a few years before Kerberos because the Garrison wasn’t big on food diversity. Hunk had gone the same route as Lance, except his pizza was hawaiian styled instead of supreme. Pidge took the luxurious route and was gleefully digging into some salmon that they’d accompanied with strawberry salad.

Keith was eating some kind of soup Lance couldn’t even begin to try pronouncing and some rice. He looked bothered for some reason though, a frown adorning his face as he slowly chewed. A millimoment after he swallowed, Lance heard him mutter a barely audible ‘ow’.

“Everything alright over there?” Lance asked, giving the red paladin a small smile. He was concerned though; Keith had been training extra hard since their last defeat a few weeks prior and there was every chance he’d managed to knock something loose.

“Huh?” Keith was caught off guard, eyes slightly widened as he looked up. He took a moment to process Lance’s question, then shook his head. “Yeah, I’m fine, just a toothache is all. Probably nothing.”

It was something.

-

Diaster.

That’s all this mission was, really, Lance mused as he used Blue’s tail to shoot at one of the small battleships.

 _“Paladins, you need to form Voltron_ now!” Allura exclaimed over the intercom. She sounded like she was on the verge of panicking, which was reasonable when one stopped to consider that the only defense behind Voltron was the Castle of Lions.

 _“We’re too far away from one another,”_ Shiro reported, somehow managing to sound completely calm even though everything was going to shit. _“We’re going to have to find a way to defeat these guys without it.”_

 _“Uh, guys? I don’t want to be the negative one here, but we’re getting our butts kicked. Again,”_ Hunk pointed out. _“If we’re going to have any chance of this, we need to cut through all of the crossfire and form Voltron.”_

Somewhere ahead, Pidge had teamed up with Hunk and together the two of them were taking out as many fighters as they could. In all of the commotion, Lance couldn’t get a visual on Keith and Shiro, so he had no idea how far apart any of them were.

 _“I’m with Hunk on this one,”_ Pidge cut in. _“Keith, you and Lance are close together, so try to team up and make your way over to us. Maybe then we’ll have a better chance.”_

 _“Got it,”_ Keith responded. _“Lance, I’m not too far away from where you are now. I’ll try to cover some of your fire so you can make your way up to me. That sound good?”_

 _“It’s a plan,”_ he answered with a grin, though on the inside he was seething. This was supposed to be a supply run on the sly, not an ambush.

_Damnit._

-

At first, the change was subtle, barely noticeable unless one really looked. The only reason Lance ever did was because of chance and accidental timing.

It was presumably late Earth-time, though it was almost more like morning to the paladins. Even though Lance was always more than happy to spend his ‘morning’ sleeping in, he’d been having trouble actually _staying_ asleep and more often than not awoke only a few hours after he’d shut his eyes.

Coran had suggested that it was homesickness or _puberty_ of all things, and Shiro was only too happy to back up the idea.

It wasn’t, though. Not puberty, at least. The homesick part...he wasn’t so sure. He _missed_ home, sure, and thought of it all the time but it tended to stray more toward the back of his mind the longer they were in space.

Lately, he’d been thinking more about the war, been more concerned about even _living_ long enough to see Earth again. There had been so many close calls, especially as of late as the Galrans got more cocky in their abilities. While Voltron learned something new each mission and got better, it was quickly beginning to be overshadowed by the massive intakes of power the Galran fleet went through.

If Lance had to guess, it was worry and stress getting to him.

That was why, in the wee hours of the space-morning, he found himself wandering around the castle. It still felt foreign and eerie sometimes (especially after the Galran crystal-virus), but was slowly beginning to feel more like home as time passed. It helped that Pidge had managed to teach the castle to replicate daytime and nighttime by dimming and brightening the lights as hours passed. At the moment they weren’t quite pitch-black, but a more serene dawn-like color.

One thing that he still loved about the Castle of Lions even after being in space about half a year were the few corridors that were completely transparent. He could almost forget that he was standing on a solid floor for just a moment and feel like he was floating among the stars.

He sat down on the transparent floor for a few minutes and basked in the view of the MAC galaxy, allowing himself to get lost in thought as he tried for the upteenth time to remember what it was like to wake up and go downstairs to his mother cooking in the kitchen.

Several minutes passed before he continued on his journey through the castle, the sounds of fighting drawing him toward the training deck. He knew before even getting there that it was more than likely just Keith, working on his early morning regimen. Personally, Lance thought it was pointless but, as Keith had pointed out, it was probably because he couldn’t get past level three himself.

Lance stepped out onto the observation balcony just in time to see the red paladin run his sword through a training dummy, the last of what looked like four. It dropped to the ground, sparking.

“Begin level nine,” Keith instructed in a loud, concise voice and the ship responded instantly.

One by one, over a small interval of time, a new training drone came out of hiding from the ceiling until there were a total of five surrounding Keith. Somehow, he was fast and tactical enough to fend off their blows and even strike out one of the dummies within the first couple of minutes.

Unconsciously, Lance’s jaw went slack. He’d known that Keith _trained,_ yeah, and that he was _good,_ but never had he imagined that the red paladin was on a completely unattainable level of skill.

Quietly, he watched until there was only one droid left for Keith to spar with. The red paladin’s steps were quick and light as he deflected each of the droid’s blows and occasionally struck a few of his own. He seemed to be on the defensive side most of the time, Lance observed with a small nod, but only long enough to figure out how to get the upper hand in the battle.

Sure enough, Keith won the battle less than a minute later by ducking and pivoting to avoid one of the droid’s cuts, his own blade passing parallel to the droid’s and striking the machine exactly where the heart would be if it were human. As the machine fell and Keith stepped forward to examine the body of it, Lance felt a chill tingle down his spine.

Almost as if a sixth sense had kicked in, Keith glanced up to where Lance was and for a split second, he could have sworn he saw yellow reflecting in the red paladin’s eyes even though the castle lights were still pretty dimmed.

He’d figure it out later, he resolved as he took a step back, cursing under his breath. Keith liked to train in _privacy_ and Lance _knew it,_ and he’d been caught _watching._ As he hurried back to his room, he could only hope that the red paladin chose to brush off the incident.

He walked down to breakfast an hour or two later, wondering if Keith would bring up the incident and yell at him for it, or if he’d keep quiet and lecture Lance later when nobody else was around.

For just a moment, he allowed his mind to wander back to the flash of yellow he’d seen earlier, how out of place it’d been in the dark training room. Light enough for Keith to be able to see to fight, but not quite for anything to make his eyes look like they had. It was, frankly, a little chilling.

However, when he took a moment to glance at Keith during the middle of breakfast - they were introducing Coran and Allura to _bacon_ that morning - the red paladin’s eyes were the same dark violet-black hue they’d always been.

Lance rolled his eyes at his own childish worries and brushed the yellow off as a sleep-deprived illusion, resolving to promptly forget all about it.

-

_I just wish we knew how these guys keep finding us._

The past week had been beyond hectic, attacks from the Galrans coming in from all sides each day. They’d moved beyond confrontations in the lions to direct attacks against the Altean castle-ship, each time resulting in a retreat. The entirety of the team was exhausted by then, the loss of sleep and proper nourishment hitting them harder than ever.

 _“Team, I think we need to take a more offensive stance on this,”_ Shiro advised over the comm system. _“Remaining on defense is only dragging our lions down and taxing more of their strength.”_

 _“So what do we do?”_ Hunk asked.

 _“I think we should just try flying at them head-on,”_ Pidge suggested. _“Hunk, your lion is good for shielding, so maybe it’d work best if you went first. Then, you can use Yellow to protect  Lance and Keith, who can both fly out behind you and take out the ships. Then we can lead the Galrans away from the Castle of Lions.”_

 _“That’s a great idea Pidge,”_ Shiro praised. _“However, I think we need to stick together as much as possible to avoid catastrophe like the last few times.”_

 _“You both could always fly out behind us,”_ Keith pointed out. _“Then Lance and I will have an extra backup, and Hunk will have the two of you to help him out if we manage our own part. Does that sound good?”_

 _“Sounds good to me,”_ Lance said, _“so long as we can just get this done and_ over with.”

The plan went off without a hitch. The Galrans were so surprised by the new approach from the Lions of Voltron that they forgot to act, and that moment was all Allura needed to stabilize the castle’s defenses and provide them with the backup they so desperately needed.

 _“Paladins!”_ Her voice rang out through their comms, sharp and authoritative, yet calm and so _Allura_ that Lance couldn’t help but grin goofily at the sound of it. _“Now’s your chance; form Voltron and take them out!”_

 _“Got it!”_ the five of them replied mostly in unison. They branched away from the Galran battleships and flew into formation, each of them focusing one one thing - _being Voltron._ Their lions melded together effortlessly to form the giant robot and once Voltron was complete, they raced in to fight back against the Galra. The fight should have been theirs.

It wasn’t.

Voltron was unsteady that day, fumbling over the simplest of things. The Galrans were easily able to get plenty of shots in on them, and what should have been an easy fight was quickly turning into something almost impossible. It was almost like the very beginning, when they’d tried forming Voltron with just their minds and Hunk had kept focusing on the photo of Pidge and their brother.

Unfortunately for them, history was doomed to repeat itself. A shock rippled through Voltron that the paladins could actually _feel_ as their minds split apart, their lions doing the very same. Their comms were filled with the sound of pained cries for a moment before Allura cut in, sounding worried.

_“Paladins, what has happened?”_

_“Something went wrong,”_ Lance reported, quickly moving into action against the Galrans, using Blue’s tail to shoot at the ships. _“Voltron fell apart and I don’t think we’ll be able to form it another time today.”_

 _“Paladins, retreat to the castle,”_ Allura instructed calmly. _“I’ll open up a wormhole and we can retreat for now, at least long enough for you guys to recuperate.”_

 _“Not like I’m not all for having some downtime or anything, but who’s to say the Galra aren’t just going to find us again? They’ve been tracking us like bloodhounds for the past week,”_ Pidge pointed out as they began making their way back to the castle-ship.

 _“Coran has located a planet we can land on that looks like it should block the Galra’s ability to find us,”_ Allura replied smoothly. _“Once we land, we can rest for a while. You paladins have been working hard and you all deserve a break.”_

Never before in his life had Lance been quite so grateful to hear the words _you deserve a break_ come out of Allura’s mouth. She’d come a long way since the beginning of their training, when she’d insisted that they couldn’t take _any_ breaks in the fight against the Galra, and had come to see the Paladins’ side of things.

Lance breathed out a sigh of relief when he was able to land Blue safely in her hangar, the emotion increasing a tenfold when he exited her to find the other lions had made it back safely too. He pulled off his helmet and took a deep breath of air before smiling. All that was left before they would be allowed to relax was a quick debrief, and that wouldn't even be so bad.

It took Lance about five minutes to get from Blue's hangar to the bridge, and he walked into a room filled with only five other people. He stopped in his tracks, shaking his his head. Someone was missing. Who, though? The lions had all been there; he'd been the last to arrive... He took a quick head count, then groaned when he noticed that the room was missing the mulleted red paladin.

That was _so_ Keith, bailing out on debriefing to go train or whatever.

“Paladins.” Allura started in on the debriefing, snapping Lance out of his train of thought. “You all fought very hard today, and I-”

“Wait a second,” Lance interrupted, stepping forward slightly. His brows knitted in confusion, his emotions a mix of equal parts anger and worry. “Where’s Keith? Why does _he_ get to miss out on this?”

Allura fixed her commanding stare on him, her eyes hardening slightly. “Keith has a medical issue he has to sort out immediately,” she replied firmly. “Were it not of the utmost importance, he would be here.”

With that, she continued on with the debriefing. Lance found himself zoning out for most of it, his mind trailing unwillingly to thoughts of the red paladin. What was wrong with him? How long had he been sick or injured, and why hadn’t he confided in anyone sooner? Sure, Keith still _argued_ with him, but months out in space did wonders for relationships and they’d become _friends_ by then, why would Keith not tell him?

 _Or anyone else, for that matter?_ He wondered, thinking back on how even Shiro looked worried and almost confused when Allura had mentioned why Keith was absent. Shiro was really close to Keith, had known him before Kerberos, so it was really telling that not even _he_ knew what was up.

 _I’m gonna go find him after this,_ Lance resolved, allowing himself to smile and pay attention at last. The debrief didn’t last too much longer, Allura closing it by praising their hard work and announcing that they’d be landing on the planet Vixna within the hour. Training would only commence once a day (a far cry from spending most of their time working together) and they’d be free to explore as soon as they landed.

 _And who doesn’t like exploring?_ Lance thought with a grin as he made his way over to the infirmary. Once Keith was out of the cryo-pod or whatever, the thought of adventure and a little friendly competition should be more than enough to entice him to get out and about with the rest of the team.

There was a flaw in the plan though - Keith wasn’t in the infirmary.

 _Allura said it was a medical emergency though?_ Lance thought, tilting his head in puzzlement. _Shouldn’t he be here then?_

“Maybe it was just a quick fix then,” he decided aloud, heading to Keith’s room. It would be the next logical place to check, because there was no way Coran would just let him go and train after patching him up.

On the way there, in between glancing out the windows at the planet they were rapidly approaching, he practiced what he was going to say to Keith when he opened the door, perfecting what he thought was a perfectly acceptable stern-yet-concerned teammate voice, beaming when he got it down just in time to reach Keith’s room

Lance held his fist up to knock in some cheesy little pattern, something to let Keith know it was him, but the sound of muffled sobs made him pause.

Slowly, he lowered his hand and the two parts of his mind began to wage war as he stared at the blank door in concern. One part wanted to barge in there and comfort his friend, find out what was wrong and _help,_ and the other part cautioned that maybe that wasn’t the best idea, that Keith was in his room because he wanted to be alone.

“I’ll just...come back...later, then,” he murmured softly, stepping back and hesitantly walking away, sparing a last glance at the tightly shut door on his way out.

-

The planet was almost like Earth.

What Lance assumed were oceans stretched across most of the area surrounding the land mass Allura had landed the Castle of Lions on. The water was a deep sapphire blue, the waters still and calm. For that day on Vixna, there was no breeze.

Lance stepped onto the sandy shore of the planet, inhaling deeply. The air was clear and fresh, not being filtered through their helmets for once. It was pure oxygen, and in the span of a heartbeat Lance fell in love.

“If Earth ever dies, I’m coming here,” he remarked, kicking off his shoes and socks. He dug his toes into the sand, surprised to find that even though the air was a pleasantly hot temperature, the ground remained refreshingly cool. “I mean seriously, guys, this like the better version of Earth.”

“Somebody else might already be inhabiting it though,” Hunk pointed out, following suit. He too let out a deep sigh, visibly relaxing in Vixna’s welcoming atmosphere. “It’d be rude to just intrude on their home.”

“I do not remember of there ever being any communicative species on this planet,” Allura mused, “but a lot has changed in the time I was asleep. Alas, this may be a wonderful diplomatic opportunity for you paladins.”

“Allura’s right!” Coran chimed in with a bright smile. “In the days of old, the paladins went on diplomatic excursions all the time; it was bound to start popping up more often. Why, we even still have the traditional style of dress!”

“No offense or anything dude, but I’m not gonna wear a dress,” Hunk said flatly.

“No no, not an actual dress.” Allura laughed lightly, giving them a wide smile. “The type of clothing. Altean fashion has always been excellent in formal use, and this mission would be the perfect chance to test your skills in the weakest area.”

“That’s if there’s even anything else really here though,” Lance pointed out, pulling off his shirt and dropping it in the sand. “So therefore, I’m going to go swimming.”

Vixna’s water was a pleasantly warm temperature to the touch, a stark contrast to the (at times) almost arctic chill of Earth’s oceans. The ability to swim again after so long of being cooped up in the Castle of Lions- and space in general- was something Lance took in stride as he found all of his stress and worries melting away.

He waited until he was a good distance away from the shore to stop going further, treading water where he rested. He’d swam with his eyes closed just in case the water would have the same sort of effect that chlorine in pools did on them, but now that his head was back above the water, he took the opportunity to admire his surroundings.

Weird-looking plants decorated the sandy floor of the ocean, small fish-like creatures swimming around them from time to time. It wasn’t exactly like the reefs on Earth, which were way more colorful and full of life, but it was enough to almost ease the ache of homesickness that had become a constant in Lance’s life. The only thing that was left was the sky, especially the view once Vixna’s sun went down.

Indigo filled Lance’s vision as he swam a bit on his back, coming to a stop and floating serenely. Vixna’s sky was purple, almost cotton candy pink clouds passing overhead every once in a while. The bright sun warmed his skin and he allowed his eyes to slip closed, sighing deeply in contentment.

Time passed peacefully. Lance could hear birdlike sounds from overhead on occasion, the distant sounds of waves crashing onto shore. He kept his eyes closed, enjoying the feeling of the waves rocking him into a light doze. For the moment, he could almost believe that he was back home.

It was too silent, though. His cousins and brothers and sisters weren’t around, shrieking in delight as they splashed around in the water. There weren’t any boats to create engine noises, no music echoing over the boardwalk.

He was alone.

Inevitably, he eventually opened his eyes to almost twilight conditions, stars beginning to wink into existence across the purple sky. His mind turned to his teammates, wondering what they’d been spending their time doing and how long he’d been in the water. He started swimming back to shore, noting on the way that his fingers were appropriately shrivelled for the span of about an hour or two.

He walked back to the Castle of Lions without even a sign of where his teammates were, and on the way he couldn’t help but wonder if somehow this was really just some kind of weird twisted dream that he couldn’t wake up from.

 _That’s nonsense, though,_ he rationalized as he entered the castle. _It looks like it’s dark outside, so they’re all probably winding down. Bonding, maybe getting ready for dinner._ He licked his lips at the thought of food, suddenly realizing just how hungry he really was.

“-and it seems like the days are much shorter here than on Earth,” Pidge’s voice was saying excitedly from the dining room. “However, so many things are almost the same Allura! Maybe we can establish a semi-permanent home here for in-between missions.”

“Maybe,” Allura agreed cheerfully. “Though, I do not imagine that happening too often Pidge, what with all of the planets Zarkon has taken over that needs our help. Perhaps we can help other refugees find their way here though, start a colony.”

Lance paused mid-way on his journey to where his friends were, sniffing the air in confusion. His stomach rumbled at the aroma of something cooking, _spices_ of all things. Something they hadn’t had before coming here. He inhaled deeply, his feet unconsciously changing direction and leading him to the kitchen instead.

“Hunk, my man!” he called as he walked in, grinning at the sight of his best friend and Coran bickering as they stood over the stove-like appliance they’d never had reason to use before. “What’s cookin?”

Hunk looked at Lance over his shoulder, beaming. “Steaks!” he replied cheerfully. “There are plenty of animals on this planet, so catching a couple was a cinch. Coran just doesn’t agree with how they should be cooked.”

“Sweet!” Lance replied, grinning. “So what’s everyone else up to?” Allura and Pidge were in the dining room, he knew. He’d probably go see what they’d done in their free time after sampling some of what would be his first “home-cooked” meal in months. Shiro…Shiro would likely be on the training deck or working out in his room or something, because he never really did anything fun during downtime.

 _Or wait._ Lance considered the thought for a moment. _Never mind, he might be polishing Blackie. He considers that fun, right?_

It was when he was on his way to go check on Allura and Pidge that he stopped in his tracks again, the final missing paladin finally entering his thoughts. Keith. What was _he_ up to? How was he feeling, after earlier?

 _Change of plans,_ he thought, turning around to head to Keith’s room.

On the way, he wondered if anyone had seen Keith since their last defense against the Galra, maybe since before that if he was thinking perfectly straight. _Medical emergency,_ Allura had called it in a deadly calm voice that gave no room for argument. Something wasn’t adding up, though. Keith hadn’t been in the infirmary when Lance had gone looking for him, he’d been in his room crying. Or so, Lance thought he had. That’s what it had sounded like, anyway. Unless depression counted as an emergency (which, it very well could), something funny was going on.

He paused in front of Keith’s door when he got there, just like earlier. There was no sound but the occasional ringing Lance had always been able to hear in his ears. Tentatively, he raised a clenched hand and knocked.

“What?” came Keith’s voice from the other side, sounding raw and distorted. Something tugged at Lance’s heart at the sound, a nagging guilt that Keith had probably really needed a shoulder to cry on earlier- for whatever reason- and Lance hadn’t been there.

“Hey,” he murmured, his voice softer than he’d intended for it to be. “We landed on a planet and everything, and there’s apparently stuff to cook with so we’re having real food tonight.”

“I’m not coming to dinner,” Keith replied. Lance thought he might’ve heard a cough, maybe a small sniffle. “I’m uh- I’m too sick.”

“Can I come in then?” Lance asked, stepping closer to the door and resting his forehead against it. “Keep you company?”

“No!” his voice grew sharper in that single syllable, tipping Lance off to the lie. “It’s very dangerous, highly contagious. I want to be left alone.”

“You know,” Lance tried, aiming for amusement, “it’s not fun to die alone.”

“Just go away!” Keith snapped, anger lacing his tone and distorting it to sound almost like a snarl. “Leave me alone!”

“Fine,” Lance sighed, stepping away from the door. He looked at it for a moment longer, then turned and headed back toward the dining room.

Still, that didn’t stop him from worrying, or from leaving a plate of food at Keith’s door that night.

-

It continued in that pattern for the next few days. Lance would enjoy his free time on Vixna during the day, and participate in training exercises every night. Around mealtimes, he’d load up an extra plate and take it to Keith’s room, collecting the previous meal’s dish in the process. They talked on rare occasions, but otherwise, Keith kept to himself and Lance let him.

By the third day, he’d discovered a sliver of the truth - Keith Kogane was lying about being sick.

True, his voice still sounded off, different from what Lance was used to. No big, puberty caught everyone off guard from time to time. That didn’t excuse Keith from spending time with the rest of them.

It could have been, perhaps, that he was simply tired of being a paladin, Lance mused one night while they were conducting a mind-melding exercise. That happened to everyone too, once in a while, even him.

“Lance, could you maybe focus your head-hole on something other than Keith for once?” Pidge asked, their tone snarky and tired.

He sighed, attempting to push thoughts of the red paladin off to the side. That was easier said than done though, and it was only a few minutes more before someone else spoke up about it.

“I think it’s about time that we take a break,” Shiro said calmly as he shifted from being crosslegged, stretching out one leg and keeping the other bent. “Why don’t we just bond for a little bit the good old fashioned way and talk this out? Because it’s clearly an issue, and even I’m having trouble understanding it.”

Lance shifted guiltily, crossing his arms over his chest defensively and averting his gaze. “It’s nothing,” he lied easily. “I‘m just worried is all.”

“Look, we all are,” Hunk said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“That’s no reason for you to obsess over it though,” Pidge cut in, pushing their glasses up their nose. Their tone was calculating, almost intrigued. “Or to be so suddenly suspicious. I mean, come _on,_ Lance. Why does it matter so much?”

“It doesn’t,” he defended, looking up at his teammates. “Look, I said it’s nothing.”

“Riiight,” Pidge drawled, rolling their eyes. “And the Galra are suddenly good guys.”

“Pidge, quit antagonizing him,” Shiro chided, though his lips quirked into a small smile. “Lance, I get it. I really do, but Allura and Coran are keeping a close eye on his condition. It’s not life threatening, but Keith doesn’t want to take any chances.”

Almost as if imaginary puppet strings had been cut, Lance’s shoulders sagged at the news. “So he really is sick then.”

“I just don’t see why you seem to think he’s lying about it,” Pidge said nonchalantly. “And that bit about not wanting to be a paladin? As if! He seems more determined to take down the Galra empire than Shiro is sometimes, and that’s saying something.”

“I guess you’re right,” Lance muttered after a few moments of thought.

They began their mind-meld exercise anew, and this time Lance kept all thoughts of Keith secured to the back of his mind and little meaningless nothings occupied the forefront.

And somewhere in the back of his head-hole, he began planning.

-

Everyone else was asleep. Lance was sure of it, he’d been paying more attention to the habits of his teammates in the past couple of days and none of them ever made an appearance past about this time.

Well, maybe Allura and Coran were still up. They never visited the Paladins’ sector of the castle this late at night though, preferring to give them their privacy.

 _Wasn’t ten thousand years of sleep long enough for them?_ Lance mused, smirking at the thought.

He perched just outside of Keith’s room, off to the side of the door. So far, tonight’s dinner remained untouched and Lance figured he knew why. Keith was waiting for the perfect time to come out when he was certain no one would see him, just like Lance had.

The only thing Lance hadn't anticipated was the amount of time it took for Keith to make an appearance. Not quite an hour (if he was estimating time correctly), but long enough for ADHD to kick in and fidgety boredom to ensue.

 _He’s probably just making sure to be extra cautious,_ Lance reasoned, yawning. _That would be just like him._

It wasn’t until Lance started nodding off that he finally heard the quiet creaking of Keith’s door opening. It was slow, and the first thing Lance saw was a dish being placed beside the full one, then a purple colored hand reaching out to grab that night’s dinner and slowly drag it inside.

Lance bit his tongue hard to keep from screaming at the first sight he’d gotten of Keith in weeks, holding his breath in anticipation. _I’ve got to go tell the others!_ he thought immediately, quietly shifting against the wall.

 _No, no,_ his mind rationalized. _Allura knows about this, Shiro pretty much said that the other day. They want secrecy. This is bigger than-_

He was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of the door slowly closing again, a small creak here and there.

“Hold up!” he exclaimed, pushing off of the wall and putting a forceful hand on Keith’s door before it could shut fully.

Lance’s strength faltered for a moment as he took in Keith’s disheveled and very much not human form. His skin was a shade of lavender and lilac mixed together, a medium purple that looked startlingly more fitting than his previously pale complexion. His eyes were a mix of Galra and human, still purple with yellow flecks scattered throughout.

Keith’s expression mirrored the same shock that was on Lance’s own face, his ears flattening against his head. He opened his mouth to speak, and Lance noticed that his teeth were sharper, more fang-like than they’d been the last time he’d seen it. Lance started connecting the dots, and suddenly everything seemed to make sense.

“So this is your big secret?” he blurted out before Keith could speak, taking half a step back. His eyes roamed across Keith’s body, taking in all the new changes. He wasn’t about to lie, his eyes lingered on the large, feline-like ears longer than was probably appropriate.

“G-go away,” was all Keith could manage in a strangled tone, trying again to close the door.

Ah. So that’s why his voice was different, then. It probably changed when the rest of his body had.

“Nope, not gonna happen,” Lance quipped, sticking his foot in the doorway before it could close all the way. Keith started to protest, but Lance shouldered his way into the room before he could get very far with that.

“Lance, go _away,”_ Keith repeated, his tone more forceful this time, even as he shut the door behind him.

“Not until I get some answers about all this,” Lance declared, gesturing at Keith’s body. “Did you know?”

“Obviously,” Keith snapped, rolling his eyes. “Or else I wouldn’t have sequestered myself like this!”

“Alright,” Lance said, holding his hands up in a gesture of peace. “Geez man, it was a question. What does it mean then?”

“I don’t _know,”_ Keith seethed. “That’s what I’ve been trying to _figure out.”_

“So, what?” Lance asked in a low murmur, going over to Keith’s bed and flopping down. He kept his gaze on the red paladin, curiosity making his eyes continuously flick upward to the furry ears. “You’re like, a spy then or something?”

 _“I. Don’t. Know!”_ Keith stressed, running a hand through his hair. “For all I know, I could be.”

Lance considered it for a moment. “Nah,” he decided, shaking his head. He gestured to the plate of food that Keith was still holding. “You should eat that, by the way.”

Keith glanced down at the food, doubt and some other emotion crossing over his expression. After a moment, he dug in and Lance continued.

“There’s no way you’re a spy,” he said, thinking back to what Pidge had said. “You’re too dedicated to _ending_ the Galra reign, it makes no sense that you’ve been on their side this entire time.”

“You’re so _naïve_ _,”_ Keith mumbled around a mouthful of food. He swallowed, then went on. “The Galra _stole_ Shiro’s memories, Lance. Who’s to say they haven’t altered _mine?”_

Lance opened his mouth, then shut it. He...didn’t have an answer for that.

“You just aren’t,” he finally said, sitting up. “I know you better than that.”

“You hardly know me at all!” Keith snapped after he swallowed his food. “Before we ever started fighting the Galra, what did you know about me?”

For a moment, Lance guiltily averted his gaze. For the most part, Keith had a point. He hadn’t known much about the red paladin _before,_ but they were in _now_ and that didn’t matter anymore.

Nonetheless, he sat up and swallowed nervously before speaking. “I knew you were better than me,” he said quietly, looking down at his feet. “Teachers said it all the time, classmates used to laugh about it. People looked up to you.”

 _“I_ looked up to you,” he admitted, swallowing again. “I wanted to be your equal, a part of the best of the best. And then you dropped out, and I was.”

The room was silent for about a minute, sixty long seconds in which he would’ve been able to hear if a pin dropped on the carpeted floor, in which he heard every breath that was inhaled and exhaled.

“Get out,” Keith finally said abruptly, setting his dinner down on the desk. He crossed his arms and his ears moved to a half-flat state that Lance knew meant danger.

He stood slowly, raising his hands and slinking around Keith cautiously. “I’m going,” he muttered. “See you tomorrow or whatever.”

He’d barely made it down the hallway before he heard Keith’s door open again and the red paladin call out to him.

“Wait!”

Lance turned around, an eyebrow raised slightly. “Yeah?”

“Don’t-” Keith shifted, looking uncomfortable. “Look, don’t tell anyone about this, okay? Don’t think about it, don’t let a single thing slip. I don’t want anyone knowing, not Pidge, not Hunk, not Allura or Coran or Shiro. God, _especially_ not Shiro.”

Lance opened his mouth to question why, then thought about it and shut it again. He gave a single sharp nod. “Got it. I won’t say a thing.”

-

The cycle repeated.

During the day, Lance hung out with the rest of their little makeshift family and wandered around Vixna. They’d occasionally train together, both in the lions and out, and Allura had assigned it as a kind of homework that they were to record information about the things they discovered.

In the evenings, he’d spend time with Keith. All it took to escape the curious thoughts of his teammates was usually some kind of spiel about how he needed alone time, a mention of _hormones,_ and they let him go without question. He made sure to make a big deal of it too, over exaggerating so nobody would even _want_ to question him.

He and Keith were beginning to get along better now. Though he was still surly, still mostly unwilling to communicate, Lance was taking it one step at a time. He’d nab some food from the kitchen, then let himself into Keith’s room and make himself comfortable. Keith would begin eating after spending a few minutes scowling at Lance, and somewhere in the mix they’d move on to tentative conversation. Lance would eventually cross some kind of invisible line and piss Keith off, and then he’d leave to do it all over again the next day.

Lance wasn’t going to go so far as to say that they had the close bond of friendship that they’d shared before Keith’s….transformation, but secretly he thought that it wasn’t so far off anymore.

“I didn’t, you know,” Keith said one day while they ate lunch, completely out of the blue.

“Didn’t?” Lance questioned, his eyes narrowing in confusion. He paused in eating, fork half raised on the way to his mouth.

 _“You know,”_ Keith muttered in response, rolling his eyes. “Drop out. Of the Garrison; I didn’t. Well, it didn’t go the way everyone thinks it did, anyway.”

“So what happened then?” Lance placed his fork back on his plate and set it to the side, scooting closer to the red paladin eagerly. The rumor mill in the Garrison was about seventy-three percent reliable in its information day-to-day at best, but the circumstances revolving around Keith had always been shrouded in a mystery that even the best gossipers couldn’t figure out.

“Well, okay.” Keith’s voice dropped a couple of octaves and he moved slightly closer to Lance himself. Their thighs were brushing, and Lance could count the yellow flecks in Keith’s dark eyes.

“So, you know how Pidge got _into_ the Garrison, right?” Upon Lance’s quick nod, he continued. “It’s a lot like that. I doubted their story about Shiro crashing from the moment it got out, so I hacked their systems and did some investigating of my own. Found some documents I wasn’t supposed to, some plans, and got caught.”

“Some plans?” Lance breathed curiously. “What about?”

“You remember how each of the simulators always took place centered around Kerberos, right?” Lance nodded, and Keith continued. “And how they were always rescue missions?”

Lance inhaled sharply at the implications of what Keith was saying, his eyes widening. “You mean-?”

“They knew about the Galra,” Keith confirmed grimly. “And from that moment on, the simulators suddenly became rescue missions rather than exploration expeditions. They began training students, and the prize for the top of the classes at the end of the year? They were going to be given the task of rescuing Shiro and Pidge’s family.”

“Until Shiro suddenly came back, right?” Lance questioned in a hushed tone, connecting the dots. “And then they disregarded everything he was saying, because they needed to investigate. And then-”

“Yeah,” Keith finished, falling silent.

Neither of them said anything for a few minutes. Lance picked up his lunch and resumed eating, though his heart and stomach weren’t into it anymore. Keith followed his example, his ears flicking every once in a while.

“People don’t really like me very much,” Lance finally murmured, feeling the need to offer something about himself in exchange for getting to learn about Keith.

“I already knew that,” Keith joked, cracking a small grin. It slipped though, when Lance didn’t immediately react.

“I’m serious,” he said quietly. “People back home, people at the Garrison, weird space aliens...I don’t really fit in with anyone. Everything at school was just a facade.”

“I already knew that,” Keith repeated, but his voice was softer this time. He placed a gentle hand on Lance’s shoulder, a gesture of much welcomed comfort. “That’s a part of the reason you infuriated me back at school so much. You were so caught up in pretending to be this cool, popular guy that you forgot to actually be yourself.”

Lance’s lips curled in a tiny, rueful smile. “Even Pidge didn’t like me very much, you know,” he mused. “Hunk….he was okay, the only one who really seemed to accept me for _me,_ but even then there were a few times I questioned it. Mostly when I got us into trouble or when I distracted him while he was trying to study.”

“Pidge has the tendency to hate everyone though,” Keith pointed out, setting his now-empty plate of food off to the side. “And they don’t really seem to mind you so much since we came up here.”

“That’s just cause we all pilot giant robot cats, and they’re obsessed with finding their family. It’s different,” Lance argued, rolling his eyes. “Anyway, you never even finished your story. So, you dropped out because you found out the Garrison knew about aliens? Why not stay on and make sure you’d be the one to go find Shiro?”

“I got _caught,”_ Keith reiterated, stressing the last word in annoyance. “Do you have any idea how much trouble a person can get into for hacking into the systems? And besides, they were never going to pick me anyway.” He fell silent for a moment, his tone shifting to a much surlier one when he spoke next. “I was too close to the issue, they told me. I wouldn’t have a clear enough head. They just needed an excuse to bump down my scores, and I gave them the perfect one by insubordination.”

“That’s rough,” Lance murmured, his tone apologetic. He glanced over to his side at his lunch, then down at his lap. He probably wouldn’t finish it.

“I’ve resigned myself to it,” Keith muttered, and Lance looked over at him to see him shrugging. “Besides, if I hadn’t ever left the Garrison, I would have never found the cave where Blue was. We’d still be on Earth. Voltron wouldn’t have ever formed, and…” he let the thought trail off, but Lance knew where it was headed.

“No regrets?” he murmured, his gaze flicking up to Keith’s.

Keith tentatively grinned back. “Even though I’m a freakish purple alien? Nah. None.”

-

Alarms were blaring.

Lance felt like he had just barely fallen asleep when they first started to go off, accompanied by flashing red lights. Back in the days of the Garrison, he would have cracked a joke about it being a scene straight out of a movie, but now he knew better.

It meant big trouble.

He quickly dressed in his paladin armour, almost tripping once or twice in his haste. Once his last piece of armour was secured in placed, he dashed out his room and into the corridor.

 _They found us,_ he thought, his mind racing in time with his heart. _They seriously found us, after everything we’ve done to hide. How?!_

 _“For all I know, I could be,”_ Keith’s voice echoed in his mind.

“You’re _wrong,”_ Lance muttered under his breath as he raced toward the bridge.

Even if they _were_ under siege, Allura always gave them a quick debrief/pep talk before they split up to go fight and this time would be no different. There was an underlying sense of excitement this time though, something greater than just the normal adrenaline that kicked in when they headed into battle. This would be the first time they would fight the Galra since Keith checked out on them, the first time the others would see the truth of what had become of the red paladin.

Keith wasn’t there when he arrived at the bridge, though. Coran was already setting up the castle’s fully repaired defenses, battling the Galra on his own so the lions would be able to slip out unnoticed.

“Lance, you’re here,” Allura said with a smile when she saw him. It was strained, but there. “Alright paladins, we’ve been discovered by a fairly small fleet of Galra. There’s only about fifty ships, so with the castle’s help, we should be able to eliminate them all with little damage.”

They were dismissed to their lions with no further instruction, and as the other paladins headed off toward their lions, Lance changed course midway.

He stopped in front of Keith’s door, his raised fist paused in midair before he could knock. What if Keith wasn’t even in there? What if he was already waiting in his lion and Lance was wasting precious time?

 _You’re wasting time anyway, standing here like this. It’s now or never Lancey-boy,_ he thought, steeling himself. He raised his loosely curled fist and rapped three times on Keith’s door.

“Keith?” His voice came out barely above a whisper; there was no way the red paladin could have heard him, so he repeated himself. “Keith? It’s me, Lance. We, uh- We’ve got a mission, and we could probably use your help. Like, a lot. The others are probably already in their lions, so they won’t see you.”

Silence. Lance’s shoulders slumped in disappointment.

He probably should have expected it. In no way, shape, or form in the past week or so had Keith ever hinted that he was anywhere near ready to face the others yet, much less go into battle. He hadn’t trained in who knew how long, his form probably wasn’t up to par.

“Alright then. Wish me luck, or whatever. See you later.” He turned to leave, his steps heavy.

“Wait up.” The door opened wish an almost silent _swish._ Lance turned back around hopefully to see Keith standing in the doorway. He was suited up in his paladin uniform, helmet cradled at his side.

Lance beamed at him. “So you’re coming along?”

“Yeah.” Keith smiled, though there was a humorless twitch to it. His jaw was set, eyes glinting in determination. “I can’t just leave you guys hanging. Whoever these Galra are, they’re going to regret coming after us.”

They walked to the Lion Bay together, almost in complete silence. Lance made an occasional comment about Vixna, and Keith hummed in acknowledgement.

“Lance.” Keith paused in front of the blue lion, and for the first time that day, his guard was down. Lance could see the insecurity in his expression, his hesitance.

“Hey.” Lance’s own expression softened as he reached out and placed a hand on Keith’s shoulder reassuringly. “It’s gonna be okay buddy. No matter what, this isn’t going to change a thing.”

“They’re not going to accept me.”

“Sure they will. Worrying about it is going to be the thing that blows it out of proportion.”

 _"Lance?"_ Shiro's voice crackled through the speakers in his helmet, his tone laced with worry. _"Everything okay? You're not out here yet. Is there a problem with Blue?"_

"Everything's fine!" he chirped back, grinning widely. "There was just a small holdup, we'll be out in a moment!" He squeezed Keith's shoulder once, then let go.

"See you out there?" he murmured to Keith, covering the mic on his helmet.

Keith nodded once, swallowing. "See you out there."

They parted ways then, Keith walking over to Red and Lance climbing inside of Blue. She purred in the back of his mind, happy to see him and no doubt proud of how he was handling the Keith situation.

At least, he hoped she felt that way. Could lion robots feel?

As Lance flew out of the hangar, he was surprised to feel the presence of Keith's mind prodding at his own. It felt questioning, like he was asking permission.

 _Permission for what, though?_ Lance mused curiously as he flew toward where the others were already battling with the Galra.

"Is there a way to connect with individual paladins through this mind thingy?" Lance murmured to Blue. He met up with the other lions and joined the fight, zapping at the ships with  Blue's tail laser.

 _"Of course there is Lance,"_ Allura said through the intercom. _"It's a little more complicated than, say, forming Voltron, but still doable for the everyday paladin. I'm surprised you haven't tried it before now."_

 _“Wait, Keith?!"_ Pidge cried out in surprise. _“What are you doing out here?"_

_"Dude, you're okay! We were getting so worried!"_

"Told you guys there was a holdup," Lance cut in, shifting his thoughts toward Keith, toward forming a connection with the mental presence still in the back of his head. "Saw Keith hobbling down toward the lions on my way down, and he insisted on joining the fight. Wouldn't take no for an answer."

 _"I'm glad you're doing okay,"_ Shiro said warmly.

There was no response from Keith's end. Lance assumed that it was because he was focusing on the same thing Lance was. After a few minutes of trying to concentrate, a link finally formed and worry flooded Lance's headspace.

 _I turned off the communications from my end,_ Keith told him, sounding half panicked. _They're gonna want to form Voltron, Lance, I can't do this._

 _Sure you can,_ he tried reassuring. _It'll be-_

_If you say 'okay' one more time, I'll cut you._

_Peachy!_ Lance grinned, despite himself. _Either way, since I know you can see outside of your lion, this is Vixna! Gorgeous planet, right?!_

 _Lance._ Keith's voice was deadly calm, enough to make Lance's smile falter and his heart plummet. _They're going to find out. They're going to hate me._

 _Maybe try to form Voltron without letting them see?_ Lance suggested. _Is that possible?_

_No._

_Oh._ Lance fell silent for a minute, ignoring the chatter of his teammates, the questions they were still firing at Keith.

"His comm is down," he told them absentmindedly. "Can't really talk, but I'm sure he appreciates the warm sentiments."

 _Thanks,_ Keith told him in a murmur.

 _I think you need to try this,_ Lance finally said, his mental tone as serious as he could possibly make it. _They'll probably find out, yes, but don't think about that. Think about moving past it, their acceptance. We're a family now, Keith, through thick and thin, no matter what._

 _Easy for you to say,_ Keith bit back. _Your family's probably been great your entire life. Not all people are like that._

 _We're all each other has,_ Lance stressed. _Things are going to get better Keith, they can't possibly get any worse._

 _You're so_ naïve! Keith snapped. _Fine, I'll do this, and then you'll see! They'll all hate me, and it'll be just like before!_

Before what, Lance wanted to ask, but he held himself back and finally tuned back in to the conversation between his teammates.

"Alright guys, I think it's time to form Voltron and knock these guys outta here!" he said, his bright tone almost the opposite of how he really felt.

 _"Have you even been paying attention?"_ Pidge asked sardonically. _"That's what we've been trying to ask you for the past few minutes."_

"Oops," Lance murmured. "Well, now I'm ready. So let's do this thing."

Upon receiving Allura's approval, they broke off from the battle and let the Castle defenses take their place. The formation that they flew in to form the giant robot was familiar enough by now that Lance felt like he could do it in his sleep. It allowed him the chance to be distracted by worries about Keith, even as he opened his mind up to his teammates and their lions.

They became one, formed Voltron, and Lance could feel the surprise in the moment the others finally connected with Keith's reluctant mind presence.

 _I've changed,_ he seemed to say as images of the past several weeks played out before them. Some of them, Lance noted with an odd fluttering in his heart, were of the time the two of them had spent together in the confines of Keith's room. _I don't know how or why, but this is who I am now._

 _Please don't hate me._ It was several tones quieter, making Lance wonder if anyone had heard it besides him.

 _"Alright paladins, hold Voltron together,”_ Shiro instructed, sounding shaken up. _“We've done this a thousand times before, today won't be any different.”_

Voltron dove back into the battle with ease, Keith conveying his worries mentally to Lance almost the entire time they fought.  The chatter over the paladin comms, when they weren't relaying battle instructions, was filled with chatter about Keith.

Despite the investment Lance was placing in paying attention to Keith as he simultaneously worked with his teammates, he couldn't help but let his mind drift. Could the others feel what Keith was? They had to, to some extent, or the mind link would have broken by now. Had they felt his worry when they'd bonded initially? His overpowering fear that they would reject him? None of them had openly stated that he was no longer welcome on the team because of the change, but they also hadn't said anything to console his fears. Lance hoped that they were just waiting for the battle to be over, for things to settle down before they collectively settled their attention on the red paladin.

 _It'll be okay,_ he thought fiercely to Keith, tuning back in to the flurry of activity over the comm system. Allura, he noted, had gone suspiciously quiet.

"Yeah, guys, I've known for a while," he responded to the question Pidge had asked him almost immediately after they'd bonded.

 _"It makes a lot of sense when you think about it,"_ Hunk mused. _"The things you were thinking about when we mind melded and everything."_

 _"Please,"_ Pidge scoffed. _"I think the only person that's known about this the longest is me, and that's because I did research on a blood sample of his."_

 _When did Pidge get ahold of a sample of my blood?_ Keith wondered as Lance voiced the exact same question.

_"Oh, it was after a battle. I've been collecting blood samples of everything and studying them, then hiding them away. Knowledge is power and everything, and I'd rather be able to know what I'm looking at when we come up across something."_

The moment the fight was finished with Voltron being the victor (As _always,_ Lance thought in relish.), they were violently split apart by Keith's mind separating from theirs. It wasn't completely unlike the last time it had happened, but there was less pain involved this time.

Lance's first instinct was to try to find where Keith had gone amid all the confusion of suddenly splitting up again, and he wasn't surprised to find the red paladin retreating to the castle.

He flew Blue after him, ignoring the dull throb in the back of his mind that foretold the killer headache he'd more than likely have later. “Keith, wait up!”

Allura was already waiting for them in the lion bay, Coran standing faithfully by her side. Keith had already landed and ran out of his lion by the time Lance got there, and he was yelling something at the two Alteans, gesturing wildly with his hands. As he landed, Keith took off his helmet and chucked it at the wall in what Lance assumed was frustration.

"You have no proof!" he snapped at Allura. "How else do you imagine they've been able to find us like this?"

"Keith, you-"

"You're being a colossal idiot," Lance called out as he exited Blue. "Seriously, we've been over this dude. You're not-"

"Don't even start on me!" Keith whirled around to face him now, pointing a finger. "Neither of you have _any_ proof that I'm not!"

It was the scene the others flew in to find: Lance and Keith arguing, and Allura and Coran too nervous to intervene.  Once landed, they wasted no time in stepping in.

"Keith, you're being ridiculous!" Lance yelled, stepping closer to the red paladin. "At this rate, you're not thinking anywhere near rationally enough to-"

"Guys, that's enough," Shiro interrupted, stepping in between them. "Lance, give Keith a chance to explain."

"There's nothing even _for-"_

_"Lance."_

Lance fell silent with a huff, looking around Shiro to gauge Keith's emotional state. Keith's eyes were wide and his breathing was heavy, every bit as panicked as Lance knew he would be. He looked like a cornered animal even though everyone was trying to give him space, like he wanted to run but couldn't find a route for escape.

Mind made up, Lance stepped around Shiro's attempt at a blockade and reached a hand out. "Look, Keith-"

"Don't touch me!" Keith snarled, his eyes flashing. "I'm a liability to the team Lance, how else do you explain them finding us here?!"

"Keith, none of us believe that," Shiro voiced, turning to face him. His tone was meant to be reassuring, Lance was sure, but it faltered and came out just as shaky as it had in battle.

"I had the feeling that something wasn't right," he ranted, taking a few steps back. "After the whole wormhole fiasco, something changed and suddenly we were being attacked left and right with no explanation. Then we try escaping them and they're hot on our trail, as if they knew exactly where we were. Then I suddenly turn into one of them? That's too many coincidences for my liking."

"Keith, I've known that you're part Galran since after Pidge revealed their true identity. The castle scanned you all upon your first arrival and upon further investigation, it revealed to Coran and I your heritage. We would not have allowed you to stay had we believed your intentions were anything less than pure."

"Maybe you guys just didn't realize it," Keith argued, turning back to face her. He sounded impatient, as if they'd already gone over that fact.

Which, Lance realized, they probably had. It had probably been what they were yelling about when he'd gotten there.

“Guys, you should really just let him think what he wants.” Pidge said nonchalantly. “If he’s a spy, then he’s a spy.”

Everyone except Keith turned to look at Pidge incredulously. “Why would you even say something like that?” Lance asked them, anger lacing his tone. He gestured to Keith. “He’s already freaked out enough by this, why would you go insinuating that he’s right?!”

“Be _cause,”_ Pidge drawled, rolling their eyes. “Use your brain for once Lance, you pretty much just said it. Keith is freaked out by all of this; he’s not going to listen to what any of us have to say about it.  He doesn’t want to think about _reason,_ his mind is made up already. We’re wasting our time.”

Surprisingly, Shiro smiled and turned back to Keith. “Alright,” he said calmly. “So, you’re a spy then, Keith. Somehow you’ve been leading the Galra straight to us every single time they’ve attacked in the past recent times. What do you propose we do about that, short of kicking you off the team? Because we’re not going to do that.”

Amazingly enough in Lance’s opinion, Keith relaxed. His shoulders slumped from the stiff, battle-ready position they’d been in and his footing shifted. “We need to find a way to subdue me,” he said, nodding. “The Galra can’t track us anymore, or else this will all be pointless.”

 _I can’t seriously believe this is working,_ Lance thought, his jaw going slack at the sudden shift of mood and events.

“Maybe a cryo pod?” Hunk suggested with a shrug. “I’m not the expert here, but maybe it’ll help if you’re not conscious for a while?”

“That could work,” Allura added in, jumping into the conversation. “However, the pods are meant more for healing purposes. If it doesn’t actually think anything is wrong with Keith, it won’t activate.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Lance spoke up at last, his eyes narrowing. “Back when the castle was infected with whatever Sendak and his cronies did to it, one of the pods locked me in itself and I was stuck for hours! I’m pretty certain there was nothing wrong with me then, so how do you explain that?”

“That was back when the castle was under _Galran_ influence,” Coran reminded him. “It makes sense that our tech wouldn’t completely mesh with their ways, so the pods probably didn’t work the same way. Now that everything’s back to normal and there are no Galran traces left here, they shouldn’t do that again.”

“Still.” Lance shuddered, memories of the unfortunate incident popping up in his mind. “I don’t trust those things anymore.”

"I've got it!" Shiro interjected, snapping his fingers. "The containment pods that we kept Sendak in. Keith will be knocked out, and he can stay in there however long he feels is necessary."

"A week," Keith replied automatically, his tone offering no room for argument. "If not longer."

"Hold up," Lance cut in, shaking his head quickly. Were they really just going to go along with this madness? Keith wasn't a spy! There was no _need_ to put him in a holding pod, no need to treat him like some kind of criminal when he hadn't done anything wrong.

Keith crossed his arms, shifting his weight to one hip. "I've made up my mind on this Lance. You're too late." He sounded almost smug as he spoke, and it made Lance want to punch him.

"This isn't right though," Lance argued. "None of us think you're helping the enemy, and it's obvious that you aren't! Like Pidge told me, you're way too dedicated to bringing down the Galran Empire to possibly be some kind of a traitor."

"Knowingly, no," Keith agreed, a wry little smile twisting his lips. "But it's like _I_ told _you,_ the Galra could have changed my memories on me. I could be an unaware spy, and you guys would be none the wiser."

"So it's settled then?" Pidge asked, sounding almost bored. "Keith's going to go into a stasis for a while, and what? We're just going to stay here?"

"Quite possibly," Coran mused. "We'll have to keep a sharp eye out for an Galra ships of course, they might all have a lock on our location after this last round, but otherwise it looks like our vacation's been extended."

"And you should probably eat dinner before we lock you in," Shiro added, giving Keith a Look.

For a moment, Keith looked like he was about to argue. The moment passed though, and he gave a sharp nod. "Fine. Dinner first, then."

-

After what had to be the most awkward dinner Lance had ever experienced, the team gathered in the containment pod room.

Allura pressed a few Altean symbols on the control panel, and one of the pods opened with a _swoosh._ Keith, stripped down to his black bodysuit, stepped in without a word and turned to face them.

"Now, remember to breathe in and out as normally as possible," Coran instructed. "The fumes are a little foul-tasting, but they're meant to be that way. And don't mind the cold, that's perfectly normal."

"It'll only be for a week," Shiro promised. "Then we'll come and get you."

"If anything happens at all, make it longer," Keith told him, his tone somber.

"Will do," Pidge said cheerfully. "Have a good sleep!"

Lance said nothing. He stood off to the side, leaning up against a wall with his arms crossed, watching the others through narrowed eyes.

After a few more well-wishes from the rest of the team, Allura sealed the pod and some kind of gas-looking substance started filling the pod. Keith closed his eyes and continued breathing at the same rate, eventually losing consciousness. One by one, the others left until only Shiro and Lance remained.

"Hey," Shiro said softly, walking over to Lance. “It's going to be okay, you know that, right? This is just to appease Keith."

Lance snorted. "We shouldn't have to do that in the first place," he muttered. "He's being stupid about all of this."

"Maybe not," Shiro replied. He hesitated for a moment, then continued. "Keith....he's had a pretty hard life, Lance. More than any of you know. In the past, he's struggled with being accepted by the people in his life. Just...consider that, please."

"Whatever." Lance rolled his eyes to hide the fact that Shiro's words had sparked an interest in him.

"Either way, I'm going to retire for the night. You should too, we've got another long short-day ahead of us tomorrow. Coran's going to begin teaching us diplomacy skills."

"I'm gonna stay here for a little bit," Lance told him. "Keep guard over him, make sure he doesn't escape, or whatever he thinks is going to happen."

"Right." Shiro shot him a knowing grin, then turned to leave. "I’m going to leave the light on for you. Don't stay up too late," he called over his shoulder on the way out.

For a few minutes, Lance didn’t move. He just continued watching Keith, letting his thoughts flow through his mind until finally he couldn’t take it anymore and pushed off the wall.

“You know, I really don’t understand you,” he told Keith, beginning a comfortable pace in front of the pod. The time and environment were perfect for a late night ranting session. It had been a while since he’d done that anyway.

“First, you’re worried that the team isn’t going to accept you,” he went on. “Then, you turn around and when - _surprise surprise_ \- they accept you for being Galran, you do everything to stress out about how you’re probably a spy. That makes no sense.”

Keith nor the pod responded. He expected that anyway, though he filed it into the back of his mind that Hunk was a way better ranting companion.

“It’s just - it’s like you’re _trying_ to make us hate you or something. What’s up with that? Why can’t you just let it be and see that _obviously_ this changes nothing?”

He came to a stop in front of the pod, staring at it in despair. “Well?” he whispered, his voice cracking. “Why can’t you see the truth staring you in the face?”

He sank down in front of the pod and settled into a crosslegged position, laying a hand on the cold surface of the pod. “You know, I think you’re the naïve one. The Galra can change your memories, yeah, but they can’t change anything else. Your emotions especially. It’s not so much about what’s in your head, but what’s in your heart, you know that? Why do you think eyewitness testimony is the most unreliable form? Our minds and memories are unreliable, we’ll make stuff up anyway.”

“Your feelings though? You can’t fake that, and it can’t be altered. You _hate_ the Galrans, Keith. You might be one of them, but trust me, _you’re not one of them.”_

Lance huffed out a short laugh, running a hand though his hair.  “I don’t think you’re capable of being evil, even unconsciously. An ass, maybe, but that’s stretching it,” he said quietly, the ghost of a smile tugging at his lips. “We’re rivals, you know? Lance and Keith, neck and neck. I don’t know a whole heck of a lot _about_ you, but I know _you._ You’re not a bad person, Keith. And you’re not some kind of secret spy or something.”

“Just...trust me on this one. Please?”

He leaned his forehead against the pod and closed his eyes for a little while. He was all talked out for the time being, but the thought of just _leaving_ didn’t feel right to him. True, Keith wouldn’t know the difference, he probably wouldn’t even know that Lance had been here, but _he_ would know and that was bad enough.

After what felt like a hour had passed, Lance finally ended his vigil and stood. “I’m gonna head to bed, alright?” He patted the surface of the pod gently. “I’ll come back tomorrow and tell you some stories maybe. And I promise, I’ll be the first one to hug you when you wake up and all that.” He stifled a yawn and gave the pod a little wave.

The moment before he turned off the light, he spared a final glance over his shoulder at the unmoving form of his friend.

“Night Keith,” he whispered as he flipped the switch down. “See you in a week.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone and happy Sunday! =D
> 
> This is my first work for this particular fandom, so I'm really hoping I did a good job with it and everything. The thing with the Garrison having had an agenda to rescue Shiro is kind of a personal headcanon of mine and I was really pleased to be able to include it in this. Galra Keith is also something I heavily support ^-^
> 
> Something I forgot to mention when I first posted this is that this fic was heavily inspired by The Real You by Three Days Grace. It's also where I got the title from ^^
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed! Please feel free to point out any mistakes (prose or grammar/spelling or otherwise) you feel I might have made, and have a lovely day! <3
> 
> Oh, and before I go, this piece was beta'd by my ever so faithful sis, Prettykitty473. (She insisted I mention her.)


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